smith



(No Model.)` 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. G .IJ. SMITHL S. M. ATHERTON.

:CLEANABLE REFRIGERATOR.

Patented Aug w: nanars Hans au, Fumo-nwo.. wAsmNofnN. n. c'.

(No Model.) j 2 sheefssheet 2. G. SMITH 8U IS. M; ATHERTON. GLEANABLEREFRIGBRATOR.

180.588,884. Y Patented Aug. 24,189.7;

. air laden with odors'by reason of the contact'- of air with perishablesubstances in the pro-` UNITED STATES l 1PA-:TENT ERICE.

GEORGE J.l sMITII AND sTILLMAN M. ATHERTON, or BURLINGTON,

y VERMONT, Y

' CLEANABLE REFRIG ERATOR.`

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patient No. 588,664jdated August24, 1897.

' Application nea october 17, 1896. sena No. 609,235. (No man.)

510 @ZZ whom t mongool/werft: A

Be it known that we, GEORGE J SMITH and STILLMAN M. ATHERTON, citizensof the United States, residing at Burlington, in the county ofChittenden and State of Vermont, have invented certain new and. usefullmprovements in Oleanable Refrigerators; and we do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

Our invention relates to vimprovements in refrigerators, in Which theelements are so constructed and combined as to secure the essentialfeatures of a positive circulation of air between the ice and provisionchambers and the removability of the various parts in` an easy andexpeditious manner for the purpose of cleaning themthoroughly. p

Various devices have heretofore been adopted to meet the demand foroleanable refrigerators, the majority of which are objectionable from aVpractical standpoint because of the lack of positive'circulation of airbetween the ice and provision chambers, which feature of positivecirculation experience has shown to be necessary for the properpreservation of perishable articles. Some of the prior devices employ ametal ice-tank set in the top of an open casing, but they are minuscirculating-fines to secure the proper circulation of air over and vincontact with the ice-v no bottom, the ice rest-ing on a rack attachedvto sides of the tank, or the bottom of the icetank has openings throughwhich the coldair falls into the provision-chamber, thus displacing thewarm air from the last-mentioned `chamber and creating anupward currentof vision-chamber. The upward currents of Warm air'strike the cold Wallsof the ice-tank, and thus moisture and impurities are condensed on thetank instead of the warm-air currents striking the ice to have theimpurities condensed by contact with the ice and being carried oif withthe Water resulting from melting of the ice. The condensation ofmoisture and impurities on the cold Walls of the ice-tank in some typesof refrigerators renders it necessary to employ two pans under theice-tank, one of which pans catches the water resulting fromcondensation of moisture on the tank-Walls and the other tray catchesand carries Off the ordinary waste Water from the ice. l

It is desirable in refrigerators to secure a positive circulation ofairby the employment of flues or ducts, the cold air passing from theice-chamber into a flue which conducts it to the bottom of theprovision-chamber, while the-warm currents bearing the odors fromperishable matter in the provision-chamber should be carried upwardthrough and by a separate flue arranged to discharge the Warm laden orcharged currents, so that they impinge directly upon the ice, which,beingthe coldest object, naturally attracts and. lcondenses suchobjectionable matters in the warm currents and causes the objectionablematter to pass, with the ice1neltings, out of the refrigerator.

The object that we havein view in the present invention is to provideasimple and inexpensive construction in which the 'necessary positivecirculation of air and removability of flues, tray, and ice-tank areattained in a satisfactory manner.

A further Object of our invention is to provide for rigid locking orfastening of parts in position within the casing, to enable them to betaken out and replaced Without manipulating troublesome fasteners,and todischarge the water result-ing from ice-meltings in a simple manner.

' Our invention consists in improvements in refrigerators using a casingor inclosure hav' ing an ice-chamber in its upper part and aprovision-chamber in its lower part, a Warmair flue or flues situated inthe horizontal plane of the ice-chamber, at the side or front thereof,and having its lower end connected with the provision-chamber and itsupper. end openinginto the` ice-chamber, and a cold-air flueV situatedbelow the ice-.chamberand in the horizontal plane of saidprovision-chamber, said cold-air flue connected at its upper end withthe ice-chamber at a point on the opposite side thereof from where thewarmlair fiue discharges to the ice-chamber and the IOO lower end ofsaid cold-air liuc being open or provided with ports to discharge coldair into the bottom part of the provision-chamber.

One of our improvements consists in the coldair flue,wl1ich is formed bya plate Athat is secured in place removably within therefrigeratoncasing to enable it to be taken out for cleaning the saine,and as the means for holding said cold-air flue in place we make it inthe form of a flat or corrugated plate having flanges at its sides,which flanges fit between cleats or posts and are provided withirregularly-formed slots adapted to receive headed studs or pinsattached to the cleats or posts, whereby the metallic flue-plate maybeislipped into place and locked by the pins or slipped out of position,and the cleats or posts serve to grip and assist in holding theflue-plate steadily and firmly in position.

Our invention may be embodied in differcnt forms in various styles ofrefrigerators, such as those which employ a removable icetank in theupper part of the refrigeratorcasing and with the top thereof hinged soas to fold upward and backward to expose the ice tank and chamber, butit may also be embodied in refrigerators which use an ice-tank open atthe front and a front door in the casing, as well as in refrigeratorswhich have simply an ice-chamber without a tank and in refrigeratorswhich employ a central cold^air flue in `connection with a tanklessice-chamber with warm-air iiues at the sides.

le prefer to embody our improvements in connection with an ice-tankwhich is placed and held in the upper part of the casing, so that one ofthe walls of the ice-tank leaves a space between itself and therefrigerator-casing to constitute the warm-air flue, and in connectionwith this tank we provide a closed pan or tray which is situated belowthe tank and is provided at one end orside with a vertical flange andwith an inclined shelf or ledge on the flange, said pan or tray arrangedwith relation to the bottom of the tank to leave a space between thetank and tray, which space or chamber is closed all around, except tothe passage of cold air from the tank to the down cold-air flue, for thepurpose of forming a shield against the upward current of warmmoisturedaden air from the provision-chamber, and thereby preventingsaid warm current from striking thebottom of the cold tank Aand beingcondensed thereon, as well as to assist `in conducting the cold purifiedair falling from theice-tank to the lower circulating-lue- The inventionfurther consists inthe novel combination of devices and in theconstruction and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter fullydescribed and claimed.

To 'enable others to understand our invention, we have illustrated thesame in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,and in which- Figure l is a sectional elevation, taken from front torear, through a refrigerator havin g a foldable hinged top, an ice-tank,drip tray or pan, and fines, as contemplated by our invention. Fig. 2 isa horizontal sectional view showing parts in plan on the plane indicatedby the dotted line of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of theice-tank removed from the refrigerator of Fig. l. Figs. 4 and 4 areperspective views of the drip tray or pan. Fig. 5 is a detailperspective view of one type of the removable flue-plate. Figs. 6 and 7are a perspective view and a sectional elevation, respectively,illustrating our preferred form of flue-plate and the means forfastening the same in place. Figs. S, S, and 9 are views in sectionalelevation and detail elevation, respectively, of a refrigerator with anice-tank open at the front to permit ice to be introduced through a doorin the front wall of the casing. Fig. l0 is a perspective view, partlyin section, showing the removable flue-plates for the warm and cold airflues in connection with a circulating-refrigerator having an icechamber without an ice-tank. Fig. 1l is a view similar to Fig. 10 of arefrigerator with warm-air flues at two sides thereof and a centralcold-air flue.

Like letters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the figuresof the drawings.

W'e will first describe our invention in its preferred embodiment asillustrated by Figs. l to 7, inclusive, of the drawings, referring towhich A designates the casing of the refrigerator, which maybe of theordinary or any preferred construction suited to the purpose.

The type of casing shown in Fig. l has a hinged lid or cover a, arrangedto open upwardly and backwardly to expose the icechamber b and the:ice-tank B therein, while in the lower front part of the casing are theusual doors c', which provide for ready access to the provision-chamberc. The ice-tank B isa metallic structure. (Shown by Fig. 3 of thedrawings.) Itis simply a box open at the top and provided with acontinuous horizontal flange b around its top edge. Said flange b'around its top edge is designed to rest upona ledge b2 in the casing Ato assist in holding it in place, and the tank'is so shaped andproportioned that three of its walls lit snugly up to or against thecasing-walls, but the other wall b is arranged to lie a short distanceaway from the casing-wall adjacent thereto, thus forming a flue Dbetween the front walls of the casing and icetank, (sec Fig. 1,) throughwhich flue the ascending currents of warm air pass from theprovisionchamber c to the ice-tank. This front wall 19X of the ice-tankhas near or at its top edge a series of holes or slots b3 to permit thewarmair current to pass from the flue D into the upper part of theice-tank chamber, and said tank is also provided with cold-air-eductionports b5, formed by holes or slots in the bottom of the tank, near therear side thereof7 whereby the warmair current laden with odors from theprovision-chamber is conducted by the flue D up to the upper part of theice-tank, caused to impinge upon the icc in said tank IOO IIO

and be condensed by contact with the ice and have its impuritiesattracted by and condensed on the ice, and from thence permitted toescape through the ports b5 on the opposite side of the ice-tank fromwhence it entered said tank. y

The ice-tank has its bottom made sloping or inclined from its front toaline'near the back thereof, and from the line where the slope terminatesto the back of t-he tank the bottom is horizontal, as at b. To thehorizontal part b of the bottom is attached a short drip-tube 197, intowhich flows the ice-meltings and impurities condensed by the ice. Saidice-tank rests upon and is partly supported by cleats and partlysuspended by its top flange in the casing A, and a cleat or cleats bs isprovided on the sides of the casing to impinge against the front wall ofthe ice-tank for the purpose of wedg'ing said tank when it it is placedin position toward the rear of the casing, thereby effecting thewarm-air iue D in the refrigerator. y

It will be noticed that the ice-tankmay be easily lifted out of thecasing A for the purpose of cleaning the tank thoroughly by washing thesame, after which the tank may be dropped back into place.

E is the pan or tray, which is placed below the ice-tank in a positionto shield the bottom of the ice-tank from contact with the ascendingcurrent of warm air from the provisioncharnber and prevent thecondensation of moisture on the bottom of the tank, but this tray is soconstructed that while it shieldsJ the ice-tank it does not in any wayinterfere with the descent of the cold air from the icetank to thecold-air iue in the provisionchamber. The pan or tray is a shallowmetallic structure with an inclined bottom and a surroundingupright'iiange, as shown by Figs. 4 and 4, and at the rear edge of thetray the flange e serves as a means forsupporting the shelf orbaffle-plate F, which is inclined in a reverse direction to theinclination of the tray-bottom and extends forward and backward beyondthe flange e in order to make it deiect and throw into theftray anydrip-Water that may through any contingency escape through the air-portsin the bottom of the icetank or to throw into thel tray moisture whichaccumulates on the bathe-plate. This baffleplate lies close to but notin contact with the bottom of the ice-tank to leave an opening or spacee, and it lies near the places where the cold-air ports b5 are formed.in the tank, and said baffle-plate prevents the contingency ofdrip-water and moisture escaping into the cold-air flue in theprovision-chamber, but at the same time it does not interfere with thepassage of cold air from the ice-tank tosaid provision-chamber cold-airflue, because egress-ports e2 for the cold air are provided in theflange e above the bottom of the pan or tray. Said tray has a Waste-pipeconnection e4, which communicates with the wastethe casing, to whichcasingthe waste-pipe G may be attached in any suitable way, and thewaste connection b6 from the ice-tank discharges to the waste-pipe e4 ina manner not to interfere with the free escape of the dripwater from thetray Ffto the waste connection e4 to the pipe G.

The shallow tray which serves to shield the bottom of the metallicice-tank against the warm odor-laden. current of air may be set betweenthe cleats bs, which support the icetank, or said cleats may be maderemovable for the purpose of withdrawing them when it is desired toremove the shallow tray.A

At the rear of theprovisio-n-chamber c we erect the posts or cleats hh', (shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2,) which lie close to or against thesides of the casing A, and these cleats or posts rise from the floor ofthe provisioneompartment c to the bottom of the drip pan or tray E, sothat said tray rests upon the posts and is partially supported thereby.Said tray also rests upon swages or cleats e5, provided on the sides ofthe casing A in front of the posts 71, h', and thus the tray issupported ixedly in the casing and in a manner IOO of said iiue I isopen or provided with egressports to admit of the passage of cold air tothe bottom part ofthe provision-chamber. This cold-air iue I is formedby arranging the flue-plate J adjacent to and parallel with the rearwall of the casing A, so as to form the line-space between saidbaffle-plate and casing-wall.

The flue-plate J may be simply a flat plate flanged at its two sides andlower end, as shown at j, or it may be a corrugated plate having thelianges j at its sides only, the bottom edge of said plate being free,while the top edge has an outward roll or Iiange, as shown in Fig. 6. Incase the bottom edge of the flue-plate is flanged We provide egressportsj for the passage of cold air. By providing the flue-plate withflanges'the strength and durability of the plate are increased, and theflanges serve as a means for fasteningthe flue-plate in position,because the plate and flanges are formed to fit snugly or tightlybetween the posts or cleats h h', whereby the cleats serve the twofoldpurpose of. holding and by the assistanceof cleats fat the frontv andbottom side [of said plate, which cleats 7'2 are indicated in Fig. l ofthe drawings, and

they may be attached ,removably to the sides pipe G, that passes downthrough and out of of the casing-but we prefer to provide means IIO forpositively locking the flue-plate in place, In this embodi- 3 as shownby Figs. 6 and 7 ment of our invention we provide the verticaloffstanding flanges j of the flue-plate with the slots j, which openthrough the rear edge of the flanges and which curve upwardly andforwardly toward the fine-plate, and these slots are adaped to receivethe pins or studs jiji, which are fastened to the inner opposing facesof the cleats `or posts h 7L at `suitable points to enter the 'slotswhen the iianged flue-plate is adjusted between the cleats or posts h h.

The pins or studs j* are headed, as shown, and lthey serve to draw orwedge the slotted flangesinward when the fine-plate is adjusted, so thatthe plate is drawn close up to the posts h h and is sustained rigidly inplace, the headed studs preventing any sidewise -deflection of theiiaDgeS. It will be observed that `the flue-plate is removable easilyfrom the Vposts 77J h' by simply lifting it up and forward to withdrawthe flanges from the studs and `that the fine-plate is locked in placewhenin the act of adjusting it between the l posts.

In the embodimentof our invention shown by Figs. 8 and 9 the top of thevcasing A is permanent and iixed, while the front of said frontupperpart of the casing.

. modate an ice-tank to a casing of this style,

We provide a novel form of ice-tank K, in;

which the top, bottom, sides, and rear are closed; but its frontendadjacent tothe front door is open, as shown.

warmair flue D can be -made ineither of two ways. style Awe constructthe tank somewhat less in skilled in the art, which spaces serve thepurpose of warm-air fines to conduct the warm air from theprovision-compartment to the tan-k in the same manner as the flue D inthe construction shown by Figs. l and 2. vThis open-front tank isperforated Anear its top edge to provide for the passage of warm .airfrom said flues into the tank, and the bottom of said tank rests uponthe side rails la, (shown by dotted lines in Fig.` 8,.) or we mayprovide the warm-.air flue on the inner side of the front door, as`shown in Fig. 8 of 'the drawings, in which vcase the tank may `be madethe full width of the casing and short from front to rear, as in Fig. l.

The tank is removable bodily from the casing A, through the front doora5 thereof, and to provide for locking the tank in place within thecasing we construct the `tank in a novel In this `type of icel tank withan open front end `provision for the In one embodiment of Aa tank ofthis 1 way and provide a removable means for fastening the tank.

The top of the tank is sloped downward and rearward, as shown by Fig. 9,and the bottom of said tank has its front portion bent upward in angularform to provide the recess or seat 7o', from which recessthe bottomslopes downward to the rear end of the tank, (see Fig. 9,) the 'slopingtop and bottom of the tank'being parallel to each other, orsubstantially so.

Near the open end of the ice-chamber we provide a fixed or permanentrail Z and a recess or space Z in advance of said rail, and in thisrecess and on this permanent rail is adapted to iit the steppedlocking-rail L L', the member L of which rests upon the permanent `railZ and in the seat 7c of the tankbottom, while the rail member L tits thespace Z' substantially `fiush with casing anddoor a5.

The construction of the sloping top and bottom of the tank `enables thetank to be lifted in the ice-chamber suiiiciently for the rail L L' tobe removed, after which the tank can be drawn through the front of thecasing. Below this removable tank is arranged the drip-pan, contructedand arranged as hereinbefore described, and the tank and tray have thewaste connections with the waste-pipe, while the tank and tray areconnected with the cold-air flue in the manner before indicated.

In Fig. 10 we have shown a refrigerator without aremovable tank 'forice, but having an ice-chamber and removable flue-plates 'M M in the iceand provision chambers, said flue-plates arranged at opposite sides orends of the ice-chamber to forni the Warm and cold air iiues. The bottoma7 of the ice-chamber may be either removable or fixed, and it issupported on cleats as or other supports in the casing in a manner toprovide for 'the flues to communicate with opposite ends of theice-chamber. From one end of the cleats as rise the short posts h5,between which .is fitted the .hanged flue-plate M, arranged to providethe upper or warm-air line. In the provision-chamber is provided theposts h 71.', to which is fastened the lower plate M inthe mannerheretofore described. These-upper and lower line-plates are iianged andslotted, and the flanges are adapted to be connected to the studs orpins fixed `to the posts, substantially as shown by Figs. 6 and 7, inorder that the flue-plates may be removed for cleaning purposes and tolock them 'in position between thepairs of posts.

The modification illustrated by Fig. l1 embodies a tankless ice-chamberwith abottom as and flue-plates at two sides arranged 'to form warm-airiiucs at both ends of the icech'amber. The bottom as has a centraldischarge or waste connection a9 to a central drip-pipe, and this bottomhas a central slot or opening forming a cold-air port-d10, which IOOopens into a central flue O, formed by a pair of spacedflue-plates O',thus forming a central flue in the provision-chamber, said iueplatesserving to partition or divide the provision-chamber into twocompartments.

It is thought -that the operation and advantages of our invention willbe readily understood and appreciated from the foregoing descriptiontaken in connection with the drawings. l

W'e are aware that changes in the form and proportion of parts and inthe details of construction herein shown and described as the preferredembodiment of our invention may be made by a skilled mechanic withoutdeparting from the principle or' sacrificing the advantages of ourinvention, and we theref fore reserve the right to make suchmodifications as fairly fall within the scope of our invention.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination'with a refrigerator-casing and an ice-tank therein,of a flanged shield plate or tray fitted tightly to the bottom of saidtank to form a space or chamber which is closed at all points except tothe passage of cold air from the tank, a cold-air flue, and parts whichestablish communication through said closed space or chamberbetween theicetank and the cold-air iiue, as and for the purposes described.

2. The combination with a refrigerator-casin g, of an ice-tank fittedremovably in said casing and provided near its lower part withcold-air-egress ports, a flanged shield plate or tray fitted tightlyagainst the bottom of said ice-tank to form a space or chamber betweenitself and the tank, which space or chamber is closed all around exceptto the passage of air from the egress-ports of the tank, and the rearflange orwall of said tray provided with coldairegress port-s, and aback Hue-plate removably fastened to the casing, in theprovision-chamber thereof, close up to the shieldplate, and forming withsaid casing a cold-air flue which communicates at its upper end With thecold-air-egress ports from the shield tray or plaie, as and for thepurposes described.

3. In a cleanable refrigerator, the combination with a casing, and anice-tank having cold-air-egress ports in its bottom, of a drippan fittedclosely to the bottom of `said tank and provided with a perforatediiange and with a baftleplate, and a cold-air flue in theprovision-chamber of said casing and connected through the perforatedtray ange with the ice-tank, as and for the purposes described. v

4. In a cleanable refrigerator, the combination with a casing of anice-tank having cold-air ports in its bottom and a short wasteconnection, a drip pan or tray provided with a perforated flangey andYwith an inclined baffle-plate arranged close to the bottom of said tankto deflect drip-water and moisture into said tray Without interferingwith the circulation of cold air from the ice-tank through the ports ofthe tray-anga'and a fine-plate fitted close to the bottom of the trayand adjacent to a Wall of vthe casing to form a cold-air flue, as andfor the purposes described.

5. In a cleanable refrigerator, the combination with a casing having anice-chamber, of a pair of cleats or posts adjacent to said `chamber, aflue having offstanding iianges ar.-

ranged to fit between said posts and said flanges provided With slotswhich open through the edges thereof, and studs or pins fixed to saidposts and adapted to enter the slots in the iian ges to draw theflue-plate close to the posts, as and for the purposes described.

6. In a cleanable refrigerator, the combination with a casing open atits front end and having apermanent rail and a recess, an openfront tankhaving a recessed seat in the bottom thereof, a removable locking-railadapted to the permanent rail and the tank-seat, a vdrip pan or tray,and a removable flue-plate attached within the provision-chamber andforming a cold-air fiue that connects through the tray with the ice-tankchamber, as set forth.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of twoWitnesses.

GEO. J. SMITH. STILLMAN M. ATHERTON.

Vitnesses:

ERNEST E. SMITH, N. O. LANE.

